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Gabe Newell Understands Half-Life Fans, Not Promising Any Sequels
jones_supa writes Half-Life 3 is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games in history. While Valve transitioned from the revolutionary series that brought the company most of its original success, to online games like Team Fortress, Dota and Left 4 Dead, people still desperately want to believe that there is more coming for Half-Life.
In a recent podcast interview he had with Geoff Keighley, Valve CEO Gabe Newell opens up the current situation a bit more: "I'm a fan of TV shows, I'm a fan of writers, I'm a fan of movies, I'm a fan of games and I certainly understand why people are like, you know, hey I remember this awesome experience and I'm starting to get worried that I'm never going to have it again. I am a fan of Terry Pratchett and he has Alzheimer's, it's like, Oh my god, I may never get another great Discworld novel. [...] We aren't going to go all retro because there are too many interesting things that have been learned. The only reason we would go back and do a 'super classic' kind of product is if a whole bunch of people internally at Valve said they wanted to do it, and had a reasonable explanation for why it was."
In a recent podcast interview he had with Geoff Keighley, Valve CEO Gabe Newell opens up the current situation a bit more: "I'm a fan of TV shows, I'm a fan of writers, I'm a fan of movies, I'm a fan of games and I certainly understand why people are like, you know, hey I remember this awesome experience and I'm starting to get worried that I'm never going to have it again. I am a fan of Terry Pratchett and he has Alzheimer's, it's like, Oh my god, I may never get another great Discworld novel. [...] We aren't going to go all retro because there are too many interesting things that have been learned. The only reason we would go back and do a 'super classic' kind of product is if a whole bunch of people internally at Valve said they wanted to do it, and had a reasonable explanation for why it was."
Let's be honest... we love Valve because of Half Life, and GabeN's voice through the years.
That's been gone for a long time. They are a money machine now, and their Steam platform is basically a printing press for said money. Where are the improvements to the Steam platform? When you rank behind EA in customer service, you have to think that there's something amiss.
Don't get me wrong, I love Valve games, I love Steam not because it's a great platform (it's actually pretty shit), but because I have a whole bunch of games at a cheap price. The communication tools ingame are pretty terrible, the game updates themselves are pretty terrible (coming from a CSGO player), and they make exceptions to their marketplace to allow bots to trade, so they can keep a very shady betting scene from the likes of CSGOLounge/DotaLounge going strong. After all, they get a cut of every marketplace transaction. It's also the reason for the big push behind Steam Machines, which are positioned so that the likes of Microsoft and the Xbox/Windows integration to an app store (and games!) never competes. In short, Valve isn't that "indy" group of lovable "gamers who make games" any more -- they are a pretty ruthless business.
Long story short... I don't care about Half Life 3. That's about something that isn't even here yet. I care more about their attention to the games they have out now, engagement with the community (which is how they got this big to start), and a start to a conversation with the gamers. Half Life 3 will come when it comes; I am sure Valve wants to get it out too so they can cash in another big check.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
DNF changed hands, was abandoned, resurrected, revamped, rewritten, etc. with the details in public before it ever got close to a release. The screenshots from 10 years before look NOTHING like the final game at all. At some point, someone just said "Let's push anything and live off the scam to at least recoup our money".
HL3 doesn't have that legacy. Same guys (probably not exactly, but near enough). Same software. Same engine. Same designers. Same artists. Same programmers. Same company. No hype. No feature promises. No screenshots, even. A company making money hand-over-fist outside of game development to invest into the game. It's a totally different scenario (which makes it much more frustrating).
At this point a HDR HL2 sequel that was written in the same engine, same quality of graphics and game style with a few gimmicks would go down just as well and you can just say "This is Episode 3, the same as Episode 1 and 2 but finishing the story somewhat, and Half-Life 3 will come out later".
That they don't do this makes me think they have something planned. SteamOS maybe? I don't know. But I'd rather they kept the HL universe alive with some "expansion" to HL2 than cocked-up HL3 in the same way as DNF. I can't imagine them doing either, though.
Now people expect better AI, destructible environments, the focus of FPS is shifting more towards multiplayer including coop mode.
Am I the only one who actually still prefers single-player campaign to co-op/multiplayer? I mean it's ok sometimes, and there's nothing wrong with it. But when the multiplayer fad came along it always seemed like such a tween sub-culture to me.
I have to work for a living and I have a wife & kids.... which means I don't hide in my Mommy's basement every night "pwning teh n00bs" nor do I want to associate with those morons in online game play.